1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to liquid pump dispensing package for use with substrates such as paper towels, wipes, woven or nonwoven dishcloths, and sponges. More specifically, the present invention relates to a dispensing package having a through-pump drain-back subsystem that drains liquid from a dispensing package actuator to a container holding the liquid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumers have traditionally applied cleaning and disinfecting compositions with a dispenser, sometimes called a dispensing package. For example, in a cleaning process, a consumer applied the composition from a trigger spray bottle dispenser by spraying the composition on a surface and wiping it with a paper towel. Alternatively, the composition in a pour or pump-out bottle dispenser was added to a sponge, actived with water, and wiped on and rinsed off the surface with the sponge. These procedures and cleaning systems are inefficient because the consumer must go through several cleaning steps.
As an alternative to spray, pump-out, and pour dispensed cleaning systems, wet disinfectant or cleaning wipes, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,716,805 to Sherry et al., are becoming increasingly popular for their convenience in combining a nonwoven, disposable substrate with a disinfecting or cleaning composition. Soap-loaded disposable dish cloths, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,869 to Suazon et al., are also popular for their convenience. These products combine the cleaning composition and the cleaning substrate in one cleaning system so that the consumer can perform the cleaning task with one hand and with one product. However, these systems have some drawbacks such as requiring water activation of a dry substrate or requiring a sealed packaging for a wet substrate.
Current dispensing packages, however, are not adequate for one hand application of cleaning and disinfecting compositions to cleaning substrates such as paper towels. Dispensing packages such as trigger sprayers or pump dispensers generally require one hand to hold and activate the dispenser and one hand to hold the cleaning substrates. Existing pump-up dispensers that can be ergonomically operated with the same hand that holds the cleaning substrate have small actuators that require the hand and substrate to be contracted into a ball in order to activate the dispenser. To overcome the problem that existing pump-up dispensers having small actuators that require the hand and substrate to be contracted into a ball in order to activate the dispenser is address in co-owned patent application Ser. No. 11/609,740 now U.S. App. 2008/0138143; Ser. No. 11/609,749 now U.S. App. 2008/0138144, Ser. No. 11/609,761 now U.S. App. 2008/0135581, and Ser. No. 11/621,235 now U.S. App. 2008/0166174 each of which is incorporated by reference in their entirety. These co-owned patent applications describe dispensing package liquid distribution subsystems that distribute a liquid at the entire top surface area of a large, hand-sized actuator so that the hand and substrate need not be contracted into a ball in order to operated the dispensing package.
Further, while gravity-flow liquid drain-back features are very common for bottle/spout systems for laundry aisle products, existing pump-up dispensing packages do not provide a drain-back subsystem that returns excess dispensed cleaning compositions not absorbed by the cleaning substrate. Some pump mechanisms and dispensers specifically prevent liquid from draining back into the liquid container of the dispensing package or from being drawn back into the liquid distribution subsystem of the dispensing package. This may be important for disinfecting or registered cleaning compositions.
However, it would often be desirable with other compositions or liquids, to collect excess dispensed product, not fully absorbed by the substrate at the actuator top surface, and return it by gravity flow or other means through an orifice in the actuator top surface back to the composition product container of the dispensing package. Where product drain-back into the container would not compromise the integrity of the product, this excess liquid collection and return feature would aid in the use, appearance, and efficiency of the dispensing package and would help prevent product drooling. Preventing product drooling or pooling on a dispenser surface would be an aesthetic benefit to the consumer.
Embodiments of a gravity-flow liquid drain-back subsystem are disclosed in co-owned patent application Ser. No. 11/767,646 now U.S. App. 2008/0314925, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. The gravity-flow liquid drain-back subsystem returns excess liquid not absorb by the substrate during actuation of a pump-up dispensing package to the container from which the liquid product is dispensed. A drain-back pathway, separate from the liquid distribution system pathway, is utilized to drain excess liquid back to the dispensing package container. It would be desirable to provide an excess liquid collection subsystem for a dispensing package, which avoids the separate return pathway of the gravity-flow liquid drain-back subsystem.
To overcome these problems of a gravity-flow liquid drain back system that utilizes a separate return pathway, co-owned patent application Ser. No. 11/769,610, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a liquid draw-back subsystem that utilized suction to return excess liquid from the actuator top surface back into the liquid distribution subsystem upon each reciprocation of the dispensing package actuator. However, excess liquid draw-back subsystems utilizing suction require costly additional components over gravity-flow drain-back subsystems.
To overcome these problems, the dispensing package embodiments of the present invention are designed to provide a dispensing package that allows a consumer to conveniently apply a liquid cleaning composition from a container to a substrate with one hand and in a controlled manner. Further, the dispensing package embodiments of the present invention are designed to provide a dispensing package having an actuator with a gravity-flow drain-back subsystem that returns excess liquid cleaning composition not absorbed by the substrate to the container without the need for a liquid pathway separate from the liquid pathway used to apply the liquid cleaning composition to the substrate.